In Somalia, BBC journalist held without charge

November 26, 2012 5:00 PM ET

Nairobi, November
26, 2012--Somali authorities must immediately release Ibrahim Mohamed
Adan, a correspondent for the Somali service of the BBC, who has been held for
nearly a week in Mogadishu without charge, the Committee to Protect Journalists
said today.

Security forces
arrested Ibrahim on November 21 and accused him of falsely reporting that a
Somali military court had ordered a soldier's execution, local journalists told
CPJ. In his Somali-languagereport, which aired earlier in November,
Ibrahim had interviewed a Somali who claimed his cousin, a soldier, had been
executed.

Liban Ali Yarrow,
chairman of the military court, ordered Ibrahim's arrest, saying
the journalist was unable to verify the report, local journalists said. The military
court summoned Ibrahim on November 17 and demanded that he either present
evidence verifying his article or be imprisoned, the journalists said. Ibrahim
was summoned on November 21 and subsequently arrested, news reports said.

Authorities
transferred Ibrahim's case to a civilian court today, local journalists told
CPJ. He is being held in the central prison in Mogadishu, the journalists said.
No court date has been set nor any charges placed against him, local
journalists said. A BBC editor told CPJ that the organization would be investigating the case.

"Authorities are
free to deny the allegations in the report but they should not be imprisoning a
journalist because they dispute his account," CPJ East Africa Consultant Tom
Rhodes said. "Ibrahim Mohamed Adan should be released without delay."

While 2012 has been
the deadliest year recorded by CPJ for journalist murders in Somalia, there have
been far fewer cases of arbitrary journalist detentions or imprisonments than in
previous years, according to CPJ research. CPJ documented only three cases of
journalist arrests in Somalia in 2012, whereas CPJ research shows there were at
least 10 cases in 2011 and 11 cases in 2010.

Puntland authorities detain journalist without charge

May 18, 2018 12:31 PM ET

Nairobi, May 18, 2018--Authorities in Puntland, a semi-autonomous region in Somalia, should immediately release journalist Ibrahim Obo Daud, also known as Suldan Godogodo, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Ibrahim was arrested on May 4 in Garowe, the administrative capital of Puntland, according to Media Association of Puntland...

Somaliland journalist detained without charge

February 21, 2018 3:34 PM ET

Nairobi, February 21, 2018--Somaliland authorities should immediately release Mohamed Aabi Digaale, the Hargeisa bureau chief for the London-based broadcaster Universal TV, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Police arrested Mohamed on February 17 and have been holding him without charge, Guleid Ahmed Jama, chairperson of the advocacy organization...

Somali journalist arrested, held without charge

February 9, 2018 4:09 PM ET

Nairobi, February 09, 2018--Somali authorities should immediately release Sabir Abdulkadir Warsame, a broadcast journalist with the privately owned Somali Cable TV, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Sabir was arrested by regional security forces in the semi-autonomous state of Jubbaland on February 8 and has been held without...

Somaliland journalists sentenced to two years in prison on propaganda charges

January 8, 2018 4:29 PM ET

Nairobi, January 08, 2017--A Somaliland regional court yesterday sentenced journalists Mohamed Abdilaahi Dabshid and Ahmed Dirie Liltire, to two years of prison on charges of conducting propaganda against the state, bringing Somaliland into contempt and "bringing the flag or national emblem of a foreign state" into contempt, according to...